Early County handled Greene County with ease last Friday in Blakely, defeating the Tigers 43-6 in dominating fashion to advance to the second round of the Class A Division II playoffs for a fourth straight year.
The Tigers’ season ended in the first round for a second straight year, and they finished with a 2-9 overall record.
Greene County head coach Darius Robinson said his team didn’t execute and repeatedly made mistakes early.
“Some positives to take away from the Early county game would be that the guys played all four quarters,” Robinson said. “They were resilient, especially with some calls that didn’t go our way early on, and the ball didn’t bounce our way. We had some opportunities, but we shot ourselves in the foot, which has been our Achilles heel.”
The Bobcats played well on both sides of the ball, but their run game shined in the first-round playoff game. They rushed for 424 yards on 33 attempts with five touchdowns, split between two players against Greene County. The Tigers struggled to stop their potent rushing attack, which averaged 12.8 yards per carry.
Early County running back Devonis Lee led the charge last week. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound senior rushed for a team-high 270 yards on 10 attempts and four touchdowns for the Bobcats. Lee averaged 27 yards per rush.
Early County and Lee set the tone early on the first drive. Lee took a handoff and raced past Greene County defenders to the end zone for a long touchdown, giving the Bobcats an 8-0 lead after a successful two-point conversion.
The Tigers fell further behind in the first quarter, when Early County quarterback Evan Grist scored on a keeper in the red zone. The Bobcats extended their lead to 15-0, which was the score at the end of the first quarter.
Things got much worse for the Tigers, as their offense never could sustain drives and their defense couldn’t stop Early County’s rushing attack. Lee then scored his second rushing touchdown at the 9:40 mark of the second quarter. The Bobcats reached the end zone twice more in the period to lead 36-0 at the half.
Early County scored once more in the third quarter to lead 43-0 heading into the final period, when Greene County running back Travez Gibson scored. The senior finally put the Tigers on the board with a rushing touchdown.
This year’s Greene County team was young, and Robinson expected his players would experience growing pains. The first-year head coach said this young batch of Tigers gained valuable playing time this season.
Robinson also mentioned the team has already started preparing for next season.
“They continue to grow and make strides towards the expectation,” Robinson said. “They already know that the clock for the 2026 season started on Monday. We came back in, got dressed out, and did squats. We worked out, did power cleans, and did our normal deal. In January, we’re going to hit the off-season workout regimen hard, and it’s going to roll right into speed training, and we’re going to go into spring ball. We’re going to look up, and it’s going to be July going into August, and it’s going to be time to play football again.”